I'm a minor contributor to this project but it aims to reduce/eliminate the need to use Logitech proprietary software and telemetry. We could use help if other people are interested.
Please check out the github link for more detailed motivations (eliminating telemetry) as a part of this project. Here is link: https://github.com/TomBadash/MouseControl
Also available via brew:
brew install mac-mouse-fix
https://plentycom.jp/en/steermouse/
I don’t have a mouse on my Mac now (trackpad too good) but Steermouse has been around for about 25 years and I used it for many of those. Way less awful than the Logitech software.
https://steermouse.com/about-us/
Funny how 20 years ago Logitech's software sucked enough for me to pay for an alternative, and two decades later Logitech's software still sucks enough for people to pay for an alternative.
One deal that I haven't dived into -- what is up with the ones that appear to limit how many times you can change devices? Is that real and not hackable?
I recently purchased the MX Master 4, and it was easy to remap the gesture buttons and configure features like SmartShift and high-resolution scrolling.
(Unifying receiver does not unify unifying and bolt so not so unifying eh! Oh and bolt is newer but not backwards compatible, so annoying!))
In a similar vein, I've been using SteerMouse (https://plentycom.jp/en/steermouse/) in the same way for many years, for the same reasons. Logi's hardware is nice, but their software just freaking sucks the electrons out of a battery. It's awful. I refuse to run their driver aka mini-OS just to do the right thing when I click a button with my thumb.
Wish I could find a better mouse I like as much as this one that I didn't need to pay a yearly subscription for. It's just the right size, lightweight, wireless, and being able to store the customizations to on board memory is nice.
Not trying to invalidate your experience -- I've see with my own eyes a similar thing happen with rubberized coatings on laptops & keyboard wrist rests (other's not my own).
Just putting it out there that it's by no means the universal experience.
Everyone had the horrid goop issue as well, you're not mad.
https://www.reddit.com/r/logitech/comments/1nq2luo/got_the_m...
Every other mouse brand I've used (razer, hyperx, reddragon, steelseries) has outlasted my logitech-G mice, and felt noticeably better built. Their keyboards are the most generic, nothing-special keyboards for any company of that size. They don't innovate.
I will never buy a logitech mouse/keyboard ever, especially with the options we have today.
It's so tiring hearing people praise their hardware when they've literally been outcompeted for a decade at this point. Their webcams, and other niche stuff (like flight sticks) may be fine, but their mice/keyboard are below average.
I used to be the type of person that liked mice with >3 side buttons and programmable firmware and all that, with a shape that fit my hand, but lately I'm of the mindset that anything that can be done with a keyboard (or voice) should just be done on the keyboard.
I enjoy lightweight gaming-focused mice. Just anything cheap and light, and on the go, I just use my trackpad. Absolutely no reason to spend 90 bucks on a mouse unless you do most of your work on a mouse.
Nobody sane is attached to their keyboard after the third time the RGB config stops working because of some cloud update or USB glitch anyway.
Especially the smooth scroll modifier available in BTT (not exclusive to Logitech mice) has helped me a lot, it transforms any mouses scroll events into trackpad like scrolling events that allow for e.g. page swipes, mail archive, scrolling in calendar etc. - things that usually only work with Magic Mouse or Apple Trackpads
It’s useless for me but no piece of software acknowledges my neurosis
Out-of-the-box, most Linux distributions automatically report the battery status on my (admittedly ancient) Performance MX and I get a desktop notification when the battery is running low so I can run and swap the rechargeables, but I've found no way to do that on Windows (even with Logitech software).
For a second I thought you were talking about the developer Mouser, who wrote a bunch of fantastic tiny and portable utilities for Windows[1].
Why is there a difference between the two? On my MX Master 3S, I find the scroll wheel is… weird on Linux if I connect it via BT. It works fine with its dongle.
Why does the transport have such an effect on what seem like HID functions?
If this actually works well, I’m happy to say goodbye to Logi Options with its weird-ass electron-AI-login bullshit (just let me use my mouse, WTF).
Without both, the mouse scroll wheel is so slow, laggy and imprecise. It’s unbelievably bad.
- AI Prompting (enabled by default)
- Auto update stuck wasting CPU cycles
- The recent certificate issue
I'd like to find a replacement because I am annoyed by it, but I have not found a replacement that matches ALL of the features I use from Options+.
I keep the default settings in Options+ but in my testing I can't match all the same behavior with the 3rd party solutions:
- Pointer acceleration
- Workspace switching speed
- Smooth scrolling speed / acceleration
Scrolling is usually my main problem where scrolling in one direction jumps in the wrong direction first before correcting. This is most noticeable when scrolling line by line.
I've tested all the 3rd party options mentioned here(with the exception of Mouser). Does anyone else have these problems with the 3rd party alternatives?
It’s kind of hidden on their website but you can grab it here:
https://hub.sync.logitech.com/options/post/logi-options-offl...
That said I think this will be my last Logitech device. They’re just not very durable products and die too quickly
- The main topic requires me to pull python dependencies, build, run manually on Mac - All others can't reassign the button below the scroll wheel on the MX Master 3/4
20 years ago that would be insane (many machines still had only 512MB of RAM total), and "AI Prompting" sounds like satire, and yet this is the reality we're in now --- all that just to configure a mouse.
Personally my mouses don't need anything more than the OS' default settings.
If you have to use Options that's probably the way to go (if none of the third party options work for you).
I’m still pissed beyond words that they used the driver software as an excuse and installed crapware on my Mac when they released the AI version.
This seems like a great idea.
I smell LLM... and 44MB compressed for a mouse control panel applet (at least it's not an Electron app?) is still quite disturbing and a reminder of just how inefficient software has become.
If you only need to connect a device to the Bolt adapter you can use this web app by Logitech without having to install anything:
https://logiwebconnect.com/
Around 2009 or so my Logitech wired laser mouse died after years of heavy use, and I emailed them about it, they sent me a brand new mouse, their newest top of the line model with no hassle at all. I’m not even sure it was still under warranty.
It's not just Logitech I have seen other vendors with app sprawl. Lenovo has duplicate or triplicate apps that do the same things or are wired into drivers and some are just a front end for tools they claim the new are replacements for. Wild stuff
That doesn't sound unusual for something that interacts directly with hardware.
All you need is competent firmware and driver engineers.
The hardware and software teams are definitely separate, with likely very little overlap. It's the way most companies work. The team at Microsoft that gave us "clippy" was not the same team that worked on NT Kernal.
The mouse itself (G305) is great, however!
I've switched all my mice to a ~$25, super ergonomically shaped, corded mouse[1], and I prefer to to my logitech mice.
[1] https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00FPAVUHC?ref_=ppx_hzsearch_conn_...
It's exactly what (In my opinion) a mouse utility should be. There when you need it, invisible 99.9% of the time.
I have to test Mauser.
While I am here, can anyone recommend good alternative mouse with both smooth/quick and precision scroll like logitech's? Back and forth buttons are also a must for me, horizontal scroll optional. Ideally a mouse would save configuration onto itself, so I don't have rely on garbage software like LO+.